BACKGROUND: In a growing body of research on vaping, there is a gap in research on women's experiences with vaping nicotine during pregnancy and postpartum. In countries where cannabis is legal, nicotine and cannabis are often both utilized so we recruited women in Canada who vape(d) nicotine and/or cannabis during pregnancy/postpartum to better understand their experiences, patterns of use, and considerations regarding vaping in the perinatal period, to inform resources for women and best practices for HCPs.
METHODS: This was a mixed methods study. Women who had vaped during pregnancy/postpartum were recruited using social media outlets. 111 completed a survey, and 22 of those completed semi structured interviews. Data were analyzed using SPSS and NVivo.
RESULTS: 63% were pregnant and 37% postpartum, and over half vaped nicotine (51.4%), 20.7% used both nicotine and cannabis, and 27.9% vaped cannabis alone. Most vaped daily (68.5%). Reasons for vaping included quitting smoking, managing sleep issues, headaches, and appetite loss. Some women viewed vaping as less stigmatized than smoking, but reported feelings of shame, guilt, public judgment, in addition to a lack of consistency in conversations with their healthcare providers about vaping. Many consulted healthcare providers about potential risks, but 85.6% didn’t report concerning side effects. Despite seeking information, women faced limited research on vaping during pregnancy, influencing their decision-making. Findings led to the creation of two support resources for women and healthcare providers.
CONCLUSIONS: Understanding women’s experiences and perceptions of nicotine and cannabis vaping during pregnancy and postpartum is an under-researched area that has immediate implications for women’s and fetal/infant health. Our resources recommend improvements in information, public health and health promotion approaches that centre women’s decision-making processes and reasons for vaping, and provide appropriate, non-stigmatizing information and guidance to women and health care practitioners. We created two resources to fill this gap.